Agony & Ivy

Gordon Wittenmyer, in Monday's Chicago Sun-Times, pointed out that Cubs right fielder Kosuke Fukudome hit .383 (23-for-60) and is a .345 (101-for-293) hitter in his four seasons with the Cubs. But entering Monday's game, Fukudome was hitting just .244 (275-for-1,129) after April.

Hero:Alfonso Soriano (2-for-4) wrapped up a terrific April with a solo home run in the second inning and an RBI single in the fourth. It was the 10th homer of the season for Soriano (.258 BA, 20 RBI), who shares the major league lead in home runs with Milwaukee's Ryan Braun.

I understand that the alternatives are as appealing as the selection of women at closing time at the neighborhood dive, but I wish the Cubs would pull the plug on the James Russell-in-the-starting-rotation experiment.

Hero:Starlin Castro (3-for-4) contributed a two-run double in the fourth inning. Castro, who had his sixth three-hit game of the season, was 7-for-13 in the series with four RBI and is now hitting .418.

Hero: Man, does this guy rake lefties! Jeff Baker went 4-for-5, including a go-ahead, three-run homer off Milwaukee starter Randy Wolf (0-2) in the fourth inning. Baker is 6-for-11 against southpaws this season.

Baker also contributed a two-out RBI single in the sixth and scored in the ninth on a Marlon Byrd double after reaching on a leadoff single.

Hero:Marcos Mateo, rebounding from a rough outing on Tuesday, retired all three batters he faced after entering in the top of the ninth with Arizona runners on the corners and no outs. Mateo's effort kept the Cubs within striking distance.

I remember fondly throughout my childhood the February day in which my father would bring home a stack of baseball preview magazines.

I would devour those things and have continued the practice into adulthood. All of that reading material has helped me get through those final few weeks without baseball, but I learned long ago that such publications should not be believed as gospel.

While a portion of the Chicago media used Wednesday's spring training dugout spat between Carlos Silva and Aramis Ramirez as a chance to recall every incident in recent history in which a Cubs player lost his cool, I choose to view the incident as a healthy expression of passion from a couple of players who are pissed off about the team's performance.

(Editor's Note: Fourteenth in a series recalling the 30 greatest moments in Cubs history.)

It seems so long ago, but it's only been a little over two years since the Cubs, with the best record in the National League, clinched their second straight Central Division title with a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sept. 20, 2008. My confidence in the Cubs was never - before or since - as high as it was in '08. And the highlight of that magical regular season came on Sept. 14 when Carlos Zambrano pitched the first Cubs no-hitter in over 36 years.

(Editor's Note: Tenth in a series recalling the 30 greatest moments in Cubs history.)

On Sept. 18, 2008, the Cubs' magic number for clinching the NL Central appeared like it was going to be stuck at four. The North Siders trailed the second-place Milwaukee Brewers 6-2 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and nobody on base.

(Editor's Note: Ninth in a series identifying the 100 worst Cubs of all-time.)

When the Cubs signed Japanese star Kosuke Fukudome to a four-year,$48 million contract before the 2008 season, the outfielder was often described in the media as a cross between Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui. In nine seasons with the Chunichi Dragons, Fukudome hit .305, won a batting title in 2002, and was named the Japanese Central League MVP in 2006 after hitting .351 with 31 homers and 104 RBI.

It's a shame, that his lasting image in the minds of many Cubs fans will be an awkward-looking helicopter swing and a miss.

You don't put together a 103-year championship drought without a few infamous and embarrassing moments. Cubs history is full of head-scratching and gut-wrenching moments. I believe these are the 13 worst:

Wednesday's 4-0, no-hit loss by the Cincinnati Reds to Roy Halladay and the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, was the 10th in a row in postseason play by NL Central champions.